We are golden
by Mibamonster
Summary: It's the Christmas break for their last year at Hogwarts, and James is organizing a little get-together for the seventh-year Gryffindors. Surrounded by the snow, the sweet and the sexy, Lily has a whole lot of butterflies to deal with. Lily/James fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just a short, multi-chaptered fic about Lily and James and luuuurve. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you review! I was inspired by viria13's L/J drawings on Deviantart.  
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**Edit 17/06/2012: A Portuguese translation of 'We are golden' can be found here (add the fanfiction line yourself, I can't do it in Doc manager): s/8224237/1/  
**

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'Where are you going again?'

Lily sighed and put her bag on the floor again; it seemed like she wouldn't leave just yet. 'I've already told you a thousand times, Dad. James Potter is holding a get-together at his house.'

'And where is his house?'

She shrugged. 'I don't know, somewhere in Sussex?'

'Lily, if you don't know where his house is, how are you going to get there?' Her father looked up from his newspaper, his brow furrowed. 'Are you going to fly? I'm not sure I want you flying around when it's this cold outside – what if you fall off your broom?'

'I haven't got a broom,' said Lily. 'And don't worry; I'm just going to Apparate, so I won't feel the cold.'

Her father nodded as if he understood what she'd said, while her mother came from the kitchen and gave Lily a once-over. 'And when are you coming back?' she asked.

'Tomorrow.'

'Who else is coming again?'

'James, of course, and Sirius, Remus, Peter and… Just the people from my House,' said Lily, shrugging.

'And will his parents be there?' her father asked.

'Well, no,' Lily said, a bit uncomfortable. 'But that's okay, really – I mean, by Wizarding law we're all adults and even by Muggle Law I'm almost officially a grown-up. Remus will be there, you've met him, and you know he wouldn't let anything get out of hand.' She smiled, glad that her parents didn't know that even Remus was a real Marauder at times. 'And Alice and Lexi and -' She was about to say 'Emma', but realized in time that that would not convince her parents of her safety that night. '… me! I'll be fine.'

Her mother sighed and exchanged a look with her father, who shrugged.

'That's all very nice, dear,' said her father, 'but I must still ask you to be careful. Accidents _do _happen, especially with teenagers.'

'Of course I'll be careful. Guys, I'll only be gone for a night and I'll still be in the country – it's not like we're going on some big drinking fest in, I don't know, Moscow. Have some faith in me.'

'We do, sweets. Would you mind doing one little thing for me, though?' her mother asked.

'Sure.'

'Please take a condom with you.'

The blood rose to Lily's cheeks. 'Mum, I doubt that will be necessary.'

'Humour me.'

Lily folded her arms in front of her chest, avoiding her parents' gazes. 'I would, but I am so certain of this not happening that I haven't even got condoms. Really, this is unnecessary and embarrassing. These people are my _friends_; I can't have sex with them.' Not even when they had a very nice arse and got dimples in their cheeks when they smiled and always made her laugh when the stress was getting to her. No, not even then would she even consider sleeping with one of her friends, especially not those who smelled delicious and made her feel all tingly inside when he said her name.

Not that she was thinking about anyone in particular.

'Wasn't James that boy who had a crush on you?' said her mother. She walked over to the couch, where her purse was lying, and started rummaging through it.

'I'm not going to have sex with James Potter. Jeez, Mum, that you could even – this is just so embarrassing. And _oh_ _Merlin_, it just got worse.' Shocked, Lily took the package of condoms her mother was handing her. 'Why have you got condoms in your purse?'

'Don't start thinking anything strange,' her mother said. 'I bought them for you.'

'You bought condoms for me. How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not planning on having sex in the near future? I haven't even got a boyfriend!'

'I agree with your mother. You're far too pretty for your own good, Lily,' said her father, turning back to his newspaper. 'And when you're at such a party... You wouldn't be the first one to succumb after a drink too much.'

'… So you're saying someone is going to take advantage of me when I'm drunk? No, wait,' Lily said, remembering her mother's earlier remark, 'You think James is going to take advantage of me. He won't. I… Do I really have to take these?'

'Yes.' Her mother smiled and pecked her on the cheek. 'Just in case. And if you don't use them, you can always keep them for a later occasion. But I'd rather you be safe than sorry, right?'

'Ah… right. So thanks for the condoms, I'll be off now.' Feeling awkward, Lily opened her bag and shoved in the condoms; it looked out of place next to her camera and clean underwear. 'Any other embarrassing things you have to tell me before I go?'

'No sweetheart. Just have fun,' her father said. 'What time will you be back tomorrow?'

'Probably in time for dinner. I'll see you then.' With those words, she picked up her bag and turned around, thinking of her Destination, Determination and Deliberation. For a second or two it felt like she was being pushed through a needle and then she was standing in the snow in front of a large Georgian house.

One moment she thought she might be at the wrong address, but then she heard Sirius Black's familiar voice cry out, 'WORMY, YOU LITTLE FUCK!' and saw first Peter, then Sirius come running from behind the house. They were both covered in snow, but the way it stuck to Sirius's face made Lily suspect Peter might've, very innocently, obviously without any bad intentions, thrown a snowball into Sirius's face.

'Lily!' Peter raced at her and then hid behind her. 'Protect me!'

'Not all the Evanses in the world could protect you from my wrath, Pettigrew,' said Sirius, who'd skidded to a halt and was now making a snowball. 'Evans, I suggest you step aside, before you get hurt.'

'Don't, Lily,' said Peter. 'Let's go inside and warm ourselves.'

'I think I agree with Peter,' said Lily. 'Could you at least wait until I've really arrived before threatening me?'

'Lily, you're pleading to a gentlemanly side of me that doesn't exist,' said Sirius, before charging and pouncing on Peter, stuffing his hood with show. Still sitting on Peter, Sirius motioned for the door, 'Oh, and "hi", by the way.'

'Hey Sirius. Is the door open?'

'For you? Always.'

Lily jumped up and saw James Potter leaning against the doorpost, wearing a Gryffindor jumper and a pink tiara. At his smile, Lily's heart skipped a beat.

'Hey Evans,' he said. 'I'm glad you could make it. Want to come in?'


	2. Chapter 2

She hung her coat on the hall stand and followed James to the living room. It reminded Lily a lot of Alice's house, the only other Wizarding house she'd ever visited. In many aspects it was like Muggle house, but there were a few subtle things that showed the owners were magical: the way the paintings on the wall moved, the old, leather-bound books on the shelves, the lack of light switches and the presence of a cauldron in the corner..

On one of the side tables stood a gramophone, playing a new song by the Weird Sisters. The music was no more than a background noise to her friends, who were sitting around the dining table and seemed to be in a heated discussion.

'You were the last one to arrive,' said James, closing the door behind him. 'Would you like anything to drink? We've got pumpkin juice or I could make you some tea…?'

'No, James, now that Lily's here, I'm going to make hot chocolate,' said Emma, getting up from the table. 'It's Christmas, that's no time for tea. And just in case you thought this meant I was admitting defeat,' she said, turning to the others, 'Nick would _so _beat the Grey Monk in a drinking fest, if they were still alive. You can see it from the way he always looks at the Professors' wine.'

'How do you think the Grey Monk got that beer-belly in the first place?' said Alice. 'Emma, this is like that time you thought Filch and Hooch were having an affair just because you saw them talking once.'

'You're such a guy, Alice,' said Emma. 'Anyway, is there anyone who doesn't want hot chocolate? You know what, I'll just make loads and I'll drink it myself if I have to.'

'Need any help finding your way in the kitchen?' James asked.

She waved his words away. 'It'll work out one way or another.' She left through a door behind the table.

'So, this is your house? It's beautiful,' Lily said to James, while taking Emma's empty seat. James went to sit opposite her; the rest of the table resumed their earlier conversation.

He nodded. 'You've never been here before, have you? Want me to show you around later?'

'That would be nice, yes.' She placed her bag on the floor next to her chair and was reminded of the condoms inside it. She could only hope none of the others would find out she had them; explaining them would be beyond embarrassing. 'So are we all sleeping in your room tonight, or…?'

'No, there's not enough space for that. The plan was that we'd all just sleep here. Unless you'd feel awkward sleeping in one room with us,' he said, when Lily's mouth twitched. 'The other girls said they were fine with it, so we thought…'

'No, no, that's fine.' It _was_ fine, except that… she would be sleeping in the same room as James. That was enough to make the butterflies in her stomach do a collective back flip.

_It's no big deal, _she told herself. _So you're sleeping in the same room as James? Peter will be there, too. And Remus. And Alice. It's not romantic. You could still sleep metres away from him. _

_Or, you know, not metres but centimetres…_

'Lily, are you sure you're okay with it?' James said, interrupting her thoughts. Behind his glasses, his hazel eyes looked concerned.

'Yes, of course I am,' she said. 'Why wouldn't I be?'

He tried to run a hand through his hair, but it was stopped by the tiara. 'I don't know, you just seemed nervous.'

'I'm not nervous,' she said. 'Not nervous at all.'

The door to the hall opened and Sirius and Peter came in, both covered in snow, though they'd taken off their coats. They left a trail of snow and water on the wooden floor, but neither of them noticed, as they were too busy exchanging insults.

'Hey guys,' said Sirius. 'Did you know that - 'Suddenly his head shot up and he looked at the door through which Emma had just disappeared. 'Do I smell… chocolate?'

'And once again, Sirius has shown us that he has the attention span of a hamster on speed,' said Lexi. 'Emma's making hot chocolate.'

'Did we know what, Pads?' said James.

'Ah… nothing.' Sirius left the room again, leaving Peter to take the seat next to James.

Lily, and after a couple of minutes Sirius and Emma as well, joined the conversation of the others, which turned out to be about what strange secrets their teachers might have. Some of them she'd thought of a couple of times as well, like McGonagall secretly being related to Merlin and Slughorn feeling like a failure in life, but others were a little bit too far-fetched. Dumbledore in a relationship with Grindelwald? Only Sirius could come up with something like that.

'Now that we're all warm and cosy like this, I suggest we go outside and have another snowball fight,' said Sirius, after downing his second cup of hot chocolate. 'And this time we should all go. Everybody in favour of the plan say: "Aye"!'

'Aye!' the others said in unison, save for Peter, because he was still recovering from the last fight.

'Good. So, are we going in teams, or is this going to be a every-man-for-himself battle?'

'Teams,' said Alice. 'I'm the captain of our team, just in case you were wondering.'

'Then I'll lead the other,' said James.

'What?' Sirius sputtered. 'What makes you think you can be the leader of a team?'

'Ah… the fact that this is my house and I'm the one wearing a tiara?' James shrugged. 'It's no more than logical that I should be in a position of power. That _is _generally what a tiara stands for.'

'I knew I shouldn't have introduced the tiara,' Sirius mumbled.

'Whatever.' Alice's eyes took in the people around her. 'I want Lily.'

'Fine,' said James. 'Then I want Sirius.'

'Remus,' said Alice.

Emma went to James, as did Peter, while Alice got Lexi. While they went outside, both teams discussed their tactics, whispering so 'the enemy' wouldn't hear them.

Alice decided they make a fort and said that Remus and Lily were to do that, as they were the best with magic, while she and Lexi started making a supply of snowballs. Alice and James agreed on five minutes in which the teams could prepare.

Soon the battle broke loose. It turned out the strategy of James's team was more one of 'just throw everything we have and hope for the best'. In a team with Emma and Sirius, this proved to be quite effective, especially when the personal vendettas started and people were being tackled into the snow.

'Oi! Evans!'

Lily turned around just when a snowball went flying past her head. She spotted James, looking very pleased with himself, though his expression changed when he saw her wicked smile.

'You so shouldn't have done that, Potter,' she said, bending to grab some snow.

'Oh no? What are you going to do, throw me into the snow?' He glanced aside, where Emma was doing just that do Remus.

Lily followed his gaze and threw the half-finished snowball over her shoulder. 'Now you say so, yes, I am,' she said. Her heartbeat increased when she thought about lying in the snow with James, but she wrote it off to the excitement of the game.

'You'll have to catch me first,' he said.

'Oh, I will, Potter.' She broke into a run. James hesitated about a second before turning around and running away; it gave her just the time she needed to catch up with him. She nearly slipped twice, but so did he; and the second time he did, she made her leap and pounced on him.

He lost what was left of his balance and fell into the snow, with Lily on top of him; somehow, her leg managed to get underneath him as they toppled to the ground. They rolled over a couple of times, while both grabbing snow and trying to stuff it down the other's neck. Eventually they came to a roll-still and lay in the snow, gasping for breath.

'Damn, Evans, you're fast,' he said, getting up. He offered her his hand, which she accepted gladly.

'I know,' she said. She averted her eyes while she swept the snow off her red coat. Standing on her legs again, she noticed her right leg was hurting. 'You're not too slow, either. Though I must say: A Gryffindor, running away from danger?'

He raised his eyebrows. 'If you call a beautiful girl "danger"…'

She felt her cheeks getting red. Spotting the tiara in the snow, she said, 'You lost your crown, your Majesty of Corny Flattering.' As she was closest, she bent to pick it up and the pain in her leg flared up. 'Ah, shit.' She snatched the tiara and held it out to James.

He took it, looking at her face. 'Lily, are you okay?'

'Yeah, it's just that I landed a bit unfortunate, I think,' she said.

'Want me to have a look at it?' he offered.

She rolled her eyes at him. 'No. It's not that bad and even if it were, I could do that myself. Are we still in snowball-fight mode or can I have a short time-out?'

James glanced over his shoulder; the rest had started making a snowman and wasn't paying attention to them. 'I think you're safe.'

'Good.' She unbuttoned her coat and shook it a couple of times; the inside was filled with half-melted snow. Her grey jumper was wet and cold. 'You know, I think I'm going to get changed, if the danger is over. I'm freezing.' She thought of the clothes she'd brought for tomorrow before remembering she'd only brought a camisole; she'd thought she could reuse the jumper for a day. 'You don't happen to have any spare, warm jumpers lying around, do you?'

'If you don't mind them being too big,' he said.

'As long as they're warm.'

They went back inside. As they hung up their coats, Lily noticed James managed to be much drier than she was. The bastard. However, in the warmth of the house, she was feeling much more comfortable already. She almost said she didn't need his jumper after all; only curiosity about James's room stopped her.

She grabbed her bag, which at least held the dry camisole, and got a tour around the house. Upon seeing the elegant rooms, Lily wondered what James's parents were like. She'd only seen them at the platform a couple of times and she knew they were retired, but other than that she knew nothing of the people who had furnished this house.

'James?' she asked, as they ascended the last flight of stairs. 'What's it with the pink tiara?'

He touched the headgear gingerly. 'It's the Mighty Tiara of the Drama Queen. Sirius came up with it in our second year, when he saw it lying in a Muggle shop.'

She giggled. 'And how come you're wearing it today?'

'The person who's behaving most like a drama queen has to wear it – no, has the _right _to wear it. It's a tremendous honour,' he said, in a voice that was frighteningly much like McGonagall's.

'And you were behaving like a drama queen… how?' She flinched when she put too much weight on her right leg, but he didn't see it, as he was walking with his back to her.

'I was stressed about everybody coming here, there being enough food, that kind of thing.' He'd reached the next floor and waited until Lily had joined him. 'That's my room,' he said, pointing at the first door on the right. 'The other one is the bathroom. Anyway, I was sufficiently worried to be the Drama Queen of the day and as no one has surpassed me yet…'

'The day's still young. I'm sure Emma or Sirius will come up with something worse,' said Lily. She opened the door to his room and couldn't suppress a smile when she entered. The room was just so _James_. His duvet covers were of the Cambridge Cannons, there was a Gryffindor banner hanging next to his bed, it was an incredible mess and next to the bed was a pin-up board filled with pictures of the Marauders and Quidditch.

She walked over to the notice board and studied the pictures. It made her happier than it should when she saw herself in a couple of them, like one that had been taken right after the latest Quidditch match and she was seen congratulating him.

Behind her James was looking through a closet. When he stood next to her again, holding a red-and-gold jumper, Lily pointed at a picture of herself, James and Sirius lying in the grass. Someone had drawn a heart around her face. 'You draw hearts around pictures of me?' she said.

James let out an awkward laugh. 'I used to. When I was, you know, younger and… foolish. Back in fourth year and stuff.'

She tapped the picture. 'I believe this picture was taken last summer. Did fourteen-year-old you come back just to draw it?'

'Yeah, it's so annoying, my past self is constantly time-travelling,' he said. He cleared his throat. 'Anyway, I, er, got you a jumper.'

'Oh, right. That. Totally forgotten about it.' She turned away from the notice board and got the jumper. Without hesitation, feeling both very nervous and much empowered, she pulled her own jumper over her head, so she was standing there in her camisole.

James's mouth opened and closed, without saying anything. 'Do you want me to leave?' he asked, his voice higher than usual. He kept his eyes on her face, but once or twice she saw them flitting down to where her camisole was sticking to her body.

It felt like her heart was beating in her throat. _Lily, what do you think you're doing? _she thought, as she put her arms around James's neck. _What – are – you – doing? He's James! He's a friend! You can't go around – _

'Actually, James, I'd like you to stay.'


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, so this is my first attempt at something like this. I can't do sexy, so I went for funny (at least, I hope you think it's funny). Reviews are very welcome!**

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'Lily, what are you doing?'

'I'm going to kiss you.'

His eyes opened in surprise, just as hers closed and she brought her lips towards his. He tasted of hot chocolate. At first he was unresponsive and Lily almost pulled away, afraid she'd made a huge mistake; but then he wrapped his arms around her waist and started kissing her back.

_Oh my god I'm kissing James Potter oh what am I doing this is very nice I am kissing James P – I AM KISSING JAMES POTTER WHAT AM I DOING aah this is great – wonderful – I am kissing James Potter why have I never done this before_

She ran her hands through his hair; now she understood why he was always touching it. It was so nice and soft and touchable.

As they kissed, they staggered to the bed. Lily giggled when she landed on the soft mattress.

'Wow,' she said. She sat up and leaned over to kiss James again, though this kiss was a lot shorter. 'I didn't see that one coming.'

'You mean all this wasn't all a ploy to get into my room and my bed?' James said. He kissed her and softly pushed her back on the mattress. The butterflies that always appeared in her stomach when James was near were racing up and down, making her feel giddy.

When James started tracing a trail of kisses down her neck, she said, 'No ploy.'

He stopped kissing and grinned. 'That's a shame. I kind of liked the idea of you coming up with this, just so you could be with me. So, Evans, if this isn't a big master scheme of seduction, what is it?'

She choked. _In for a penny, in for a pound. _'I guess I'm just crazy about you.'

He just stared at her. 'Really?'

'What, do you think I'd throw myself at boys I don't fancy?' She laughed at the incredulity on his face and ran her hand through his hair again. 'What kind of girl do you take me for?'

'I… er… I don't kn – oh. Oh, man.' He blinked a couple of times; his face was drained of colour. 'You just said you fancy me. You just said – you fancy me! Lily, you fancy me!' He balled his hands into fists and raised them above his head. 'Lily Evans fancies me!'

Lily had some difficulty paying attention to his words; this pose lifted his jumper so she could see just a hint of his abdomen. She wondered what would happen if she would just slip her hands underneath his jumper and –

She shook her head, trying to clear it. 'Yes, James, I like you.'

'Oh, man! Lily Evans _likes _me!' He started doing some strange victory dance, making the bed wobble along with him. It was adorable, there was no denying, but right now it was not what Lily wanted.

'James? I thought we were busy,' she said. She tugged the hem of his jumper, trying to get his attention.

'Oh, right. We were snogging. Sorry, I've a bit of a… overload of great things happening to me. You see,' he said, as he leaned in to kiss her again, 'you just said you liked me. It's not every day the most beautiful girl in the world tells you she likes you, you know. Especially not if she's Lily Evans. _Lily Evans _says she likes me!'

She rolled her eyes at him. 'I know. I was there.'

'I'm not saying this for your sake. I need to convince myself you really said it.'

'Can't you convince yourself while convincing me you like me back?'

He was still grinning as he kissed her. 'I thought you knew that. I haven't exactly made a secret out of it. Lily Evans, I think you're the prettiest, funniest, smartest, sexiest girl alive.'

'That's what I wanted to hear.' She wrapped her arms around him to keep him close. Not that that was necessary; it was obvious James had no plans of leaving.

Her mind went wonderfully blank and she let het instincts take the lead. She had been kissed before, but those had been drunken snogs with boys she hadn't really liked. Sometimes they'd been all right, but most of the times it had just been awkward and she always regretted them afterwards.

No such thing with James. Somehow, everything just felt _right_. The feeling of his weight, the way he smelled, how he varied soft kisses with just as pleasant snogs. She now understood what Alice had meant when she said Lily would 'just know' when the right boy was kissing her.

Somewhere during the kiss, she pulled James's jumper over his head. Not soon after, her camisole and his jeans went. It all seemed very natural and very pleasant – she _wanted _James closer, without layers of clothing between them.

Only when James started fumbling with the fly of her jeans did she stop.

_Wait. What am I doing? Is James going to – _

Yes, he was. As he pulled her trousers down, Lily remembered she hadn't shaved her legs. She froze, wondering if there was a way she could sneak to the bathroom to quickly shave her legs; James interpreted it differently.

'I'm sorry,' he said, stopping with her trousers around her knees. He awkwardly tried pulling them up again. 'I'm going too fast. Sorry.'

She lifted her hips and pulled the trousers over her butt again; she cringed when she saw what underwear she was wearing. It wasn't bad per se, but it didn't match and it wasn't very sexy either. 'No, it's just… ' She bit her lip and averted her eyes. 'You're going to laugh.'

'I doubt it,' he said. 'I understand if you don't want this - '

'No!' She placed her hands on his chest, trying to find the words to describe it. 'I'm just… not prepared. I…' She gestured at her body. 'It's not that I don't want to, but I'm… I haven't shaved my legs and I'm not wearing my nice perfume and my underwear doesn't match and…'

She halted, hesitating. On the one hand, what she wanted to say was the exact reason why she wasn't sure about this. On the other hand, it was something she was embarrassed to tell anyone, but most of all James.

'And…?' he said.

'I'm afraid you're going to think I'm ugly when I'm naked.' There, she'd said it. If it weren't for this one unexpected, rash action, Lily was one of the prudest people she knew. She even had trouble with her friends seeing her naked, though they had known each other for years and had nothing she didn't have. Lily was confident about almost everything, except her naked body.

'Oh.' James didn't look at her as he pushed his glasses back up his nose again. 'I… didn't expect that.' He rolled over, so he was lying next to her, and held her hand, playing with her fingers. 'Lily, to me you're the most beautiful girl in the world. You know that, right?'

'That's only because you have some idealized version of me in your head,' she said. 'Which in a way only makes it worse because you've got these high expectations because of your imaginary Lily and then it turns out that I'm not imaginary Lily but just normal Lily - '

He silenced her with a long, long, _long _kiss that left her breathless.

'From what I've seen, real Lily is far better than imaginary Lily,' he said.

She snorted. 'Please. I have hairy legs.'

'And still you are the sexiest person alive. Yes, you are,' he said, when she rolled her eyes again. 'With the hairy legs and the non-matching underwear and… what else did you say was wrong again?'

'My perfume.'

'You smell wonderful without it. Please don't worry so much. You're perfect.'

She was far from perfect and she knew it, but the way James looked at her told her that _he _didn't know that. No one had ever looked at her like that. It made her feel sexy and wanted and loved.

She rolled over so she was lying on top of him. 'James?'

'Lily?'

'Make love to me.'

Blood rose to his cheeks. 'Are you sure? If you're not ready - '

'I am.' As she said it, she knew it was true. It wasn't how she had planned her first time to be, but it was what she wanted. James. Her. She wanted the intimacy, to be as close to him as she could get.

She started kissing him again, but he pushed her off of him. 'Lily, we can't do this.'

A pang of rejection went through her, causing her insides to clench. 'We can't? Why not? Do you not want to?'

He let out a short laugh. 'I want to. Believe me, I do. But I don't want to be a dad just yet and… well, I didn't know this was going to happen, so I haven't got any condoms and…' He shrugged, looking adorably awkward.

'I do.'

'What?'

'I have condoms in my bag.' She nodded at where her bag was lying on the floor, completely forgotten until now.

He frowned. 'You thought you'd need condoms? I'm back to thinking this was all a ploy…'

'If it was then my parents planned it all.'

'What? Your parents thought you were going to have sex?' He looked thoroughly confused now. 'What?'

'They thought I might need them.'

'Your parents thought – well, I can't blame them, as they were right. I'm learning all kinds of new things today. Lily Evans liking me, her parents being in on it… I'm just waiting for the moment my parents come in and tell me we were engaged from when we were born '

'James!' she groaned. 'You're killing the mood.'

'Right. Sorry Evans. I'll be seductive now.' He took off his glasses and placed them on his nightstand. 'See?'

She laughed. 'Very sexy, Mr Potter.'

He got out of bed and reached for her bag. 'You can call me James now, you know. I think we've reached that stage in our lives.'

'Then you shouldn't call me Evans.'

'I still do that?' he asked, tearing open the packet and retrieving one foil. 'I'm sorry, Evans. I won't do it again.'

She playfully nudged his boxer-clad arse with her foot. 'You're hopeless.'

'Only hopelessly in love with you.' He sat on the bed and kissed her again. 'I love you, Lily.'

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**A/N: And no, the next scene isn't porn. I hope you liked this :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Lily stretched in the wide bed, grinning. Lying on her side, she looked at James, who was getting dressed again. There was a dark spot in his neck where she'd given him a hickey and she knew she had several similar to that; he was a Marauder, after all, and if _he _was getting hickeys, then so would she.

'What are you thinking about?' she asked.

'Ah… you?'

'No, I mean, what are you _really _thinking about? Right now?'

He threw her trousers at her; they landed across her back.

'I _am_ thinking about you. And about where my socks are.' He paused and walked over to his closet. 'Oh, and I'm hungry so I'm thinking about the lasagne I'm going to make for dinner tonight. And now that I'm here I'm thinking about that Mum told me to close the windows before going to bed and - '

She picked up his pillow and tossed it at him. 'What kind of after-buzz-talk is that?'

'You asked me what I was thinking about.' He turned around and saw she was still sprawled in his bed. The way he smiled at her made Lily's insides feel like jelly, but in a very pleasant way.

'So, are you going to stay in my bed all day?' he asked.

'Hmmmm… no. Probably not. I think I might take a shower, though.' She got up and wondered if she should wrap a towel around her. Now that the throes of passion had diminished, her natural awkwardness came back. 'The bathroom is at the end of the corridor, right?'

James nodded. 'There should be towels in the cabinet underneath the sink.' His eyes rested on her face for a couple of seconds and then a broad grin broke through on his face. 'Ah, man, I've had sex with Lily Evans!'

'Not this again,' said Lily. 'I know, I was there, remember?'

'Yes, but… I've had sex with you. I've made love to you. To Lily Evans. I have fulfilled what I've always wanted. I could die now and know my life was complete! Not that I will,' he said, when she raised her eyebrows. 'I mean, having sex with you once is nice, but now you're my girlfriend we can do it all the time! Imagine! Lily Evans is my girlfriend! Padfoot is never going to believe this.'

She couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. 'Yeah, well, your girlfriend is going to take a shower. I'll see you downstairs in a couple of minutes?' Something occurred to her. 'Oh boy, Emma is going to laugh her ass of when she hears this.'

'Why? Here, catch,' he said, throwing her the jumper she'd originally come for.

'Because she has been annoying me for months, saying I just needed to snog you after – or preferably during – a Prefect's meeting, before you were going to a Quidditch match, when we were doing homework… basically at any moment. She didn't think of this one, though.' Lily collected her other clothes from their various places in the room. When she had them all, she kissed James on his cheek. 'I'm going to take that shower now.'

'Have fun.'

* * *

Coming down the stairs, freshly showered and wearing a jumper that smelled deliciously of James, Lily wondered if James had already told the rest. She had no doubt he would have told Sirius; and when she entered the living room, Sirius _did _give her a very pointed look.

'Ah, Miss Evans is still alive,' said Sirius. 'We were starting to worry. After all, you and Prongs were gone for so _long _and then he returned and you didn't…'

'I got cold. I thought a nice shower might warm me up again,' she said.

'Oh, _sure_. A _shower_.'

Lily glanced at James, who was wearing his tiara again and shook his head. He hadn't told Sirius, then.

'Padfoot, leave her alone,' said Remus. 'Or should I remind you of the fact that your showers usually take hours?'

'Yes, but I shower alone. Lily _and _Prongs were absent. It is a most curious business, is it not?'

'What did you expect them to do, Sirius?' said Emma. 'Shag while we were outside?'

Sirius shrugged. 'You must never underestimate the two of them, Hart.'

'No, Emma, you shouldn't.' Lily locked eyes with James; he looked confused, but then he smiled. To general astonishment, Lily walked over to James and went to sit on his lap. 'Because James and I did shag while you were outside.'

Their reactions were priceless. Emma looked as if she had just been hit in the face; Sirius's jaw dropped and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head; Remus dropped his Butterbeer and sat frozen, staring at them; Peter and Lexi exchanged bewildered looks and Alice jumped up and yelled, 'YES! FINALLY!'

'Is this a joke?' Peter was the first to recover from the shock. 'I want to bet you two were just… playing Scrabble and just… no?' he said, when James shook his head. 'You two have actually shagged?'

James looked incredibly smug as he put his arms around Lily and rested his chin on her shoulder. 'Yeah, we did. Lily Evans - '

'_Again_, Potter?'

There was a collective intake of breath when James grinned and kissed Lily's neck. 'You were there; they weren't. I need to tell them I've the best girlfriend in the world, right?'

'Bloody hell, Prongs,' Sirius said. 'You've actually done it.'

James nodded. 'And you all thought Lily would never like me. Well, guess again. She fancied me. She even told me so. Lily Evans _fancies _me.'

'Is he telling us or is he telling himself?' Emma asked. 'Because I've known for months that you fancied him.'

'He's telling himself. He kept saying it when we were upstairs, too,' said Lily. 'I don't think it's really hit him yet.'

'Right.' Sirius got up and beckoned to the other people present. 'As we've all just heard, Lily and James are now a couple. They've even shagged. And it's not even 79 yet. So that's… two galleons from you, Moony, four from Emma…' He got a list from his back pocket. 'They've also kissed – do we still count those in the light of current events?'

'Yes. That's what I made my money on,' said Alice. 'Kisses count.'

'And… what is this?' James asked, looking from Sirius to Remus. 'What counts? For what?'

'We saw this coming. Although we didn't think things would go _this _fast, I'll give you that,' said Sirius. He passed the list to Peter, so everybody could settle their accounts. 'We made some bets. I always knew you'd get laid before you left Hogwarts.'

'James, our friends are pathetic,' said Lily, leaning back against her boyfriend. Her _boyfriend_. James Potter. It was still strange to think about.

'It's you who is pathetic,' said Emma. 'If you'd just followed my advice, I could've made much more money. Now, tell us the story; I want all the gory details.'

* * *

Hours later, when they were all lying in sleeping bags on the living room floor, James was woken by someone zipping open his sleeping bag and climbing in with him. 'Evans?'

She wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek on his chest. 'James.'

'Lily.'

'I love you.'

'Ah, _fuck_.'

'That'll be five galleons then, Wormtail,' said Sirius.


	5. Epilogue

'Mum? Dad? I'm home.'

Lily opened the door to the living room and smiled at her parents. She had been smiling non-stop for the past day, at least when she hadn't been kissing, that was. Nevertheless, she'd borrowed a scarf from Emma before she went home; her parents didn't need to see her hickey.

'Hey Lil,' said her mother. 'How was it at James's? Did you have fun?'

'Yes, I did.' She entered the living room and took a seat on the couch, next to her mother. She kept her bag on her lap as she said, 'I had _so _much fun, you have no - '

Lily was interrupted by her mother seizing the bag from her lap and zipping it open.

'Mum? What are you – Oh no.'

Her mother had found the condoms and was now holding them up very triumphantly. 'You see that, Henry? It's been _opened_. I told you she and James would get it on. It _was _with James, wasn't it?'

'I… Yes, but…' Lily stared at her mother in confusion. 'How did you know - ?'

'Oh,_ please_, Lily, give me some credit. You've been going on about that boy since you came back.'

'Still, I didn't think she'd actually sleep with him,' said her father, looking gloomy. 'Did you have to, Lily? Your mother is never going to let me hear the end of this.'

'This?'

'That I did know you were going to shag James Potter. Your father thought it wouldn't happen until your wedding night at least.' Her mother snorted and shook her head. 'Where he got _that _idea is beyond me.'

'It could've happened. Lily didn't think she was going to do it,' said her father. 'It was as much a shock to her as it was to me.'

'Well, obviously not, if you and mum have been talking about this.' Lily snatched her bag back from her mother and tried to hide her embarrassment. 'I really thought you'd be more mature than my friends, but it turns out I was wrong.'

'Darling, when have we ever been mature?' her father sniggered. 'So, this James Potter, is he your boyfriend now?'

'Dad!'

'Well, is he?'

'Of course he is.'

'And is he as good-looking as I always thought he was?' Her mother shot her a meaningful look. 'I mean, when I saw him on the platform, I couldn't help but notice that he had a very fine built… I think it's in the arms. Or maybe it's his arse…'

'Ehm, right. You know what? I think I'm going to go upstairs now and not discuss this with you,' said Lily. 'Let me know when you've stopped talking about my boyfriend's arse. Which is very nice, by the way.' She got up and grabbed – subtly, she hoped – the condoms. As she walked to the hall, she said, 'Oh, and, er, James is coming over tomorrow. Just thought I'd let you know.'

Her parents grinned at each other.

'Can't wait,' her father called.

* * *

**A/N: And that was it! Please review and let me know what you think! :)**


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